The Men of the 122nd Fighter Wing – The Blacksnakes

While visiting family this week for my niece and soon-to-be nephew’s wedding, my nephew, David, arranged for a visit to his workplace: the 122nd Fighter Wing (“The Blacksnakes”) stationed in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The airmen of the 122nd were terrific! Showed us around the shop, took us out to the flight line to do a couple portraits. Even allowed us near the flight line as a squadron of A-10 “Warthogs” lifted off.

Thanks so much to the men and women of the 122nd, and to David, especially, for arranging access. More importantly, a heartfelt expression of gratitude goes out to these fellow Americans for the work they do and sacrifice they make to preserve my freedoms.

For the technically-inclined, the above portraits were shot with a Nikon D2x/ 24-70mm f/2.8 combo, with 3 SB-800 strobes on a custom bracket; triggered by PocketWizard FlexTT5s. The three strobes were fired at full power, necessitated by the 1/1250s shutter speed (high speed sync) required to overpower the sun and control the ambient to retain some detail in the bright morning sky by underexposing the ambient by about 2 stops.